Taxi Drivers in Dubai offering Shared Trips to cover Daily Targets

Getting a taxi in Dubai is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes you have run for a taxi, wave and shout like crazy and even pick a fight for it. But now things are changings. Recession has its effect on Taxi as people are preferring the bus or a walk to cut costs.

As Khaleej Times report, cabbies are now offering shared trips to the different parts of the city and to Sharjah. Taxi drivers said they were struggling to meet their daily targets since the beginning of December.

Many taxi drivers can today be seen calling passengers for shared trips and they say the residents prefer sharing fares.

Farooq Khan, a Pakistani driver, while calling passengers in Al Quoz for a trip to Sharjah, said, “There is no other way to meet the target of Dh370 a day. Since the beginning of December we have been struggling to meet the target. Now we are trying to find a solution and people like the idea of sharing taxis.”

“I take four passengers to and fro and the fares are shared. They are happy and so am I,” he said.

An illegal taxi driver in Al Quoz who did not wish to be named said, “We have big competition now. Dubai taxi drivers never called passengers in the past. Now they are also doing it.”

The RTA has set a fine of Dh5,000 on illegal taxis.